Dan Smith’s Charity Drive Hits $2million as Fedor Holz Puts $250k in The Pot

When it comes to raising money for charitable causes, poker pros are amongst the most active out there, and Dan Smith has just proven that once again by rallying his poker troops to raise millions for those less fortunate – with fellow high roller Fedor Holz offering an extra $250,000 to the charity pot stating: ‘even small actions can have radical impact’.

The ‘Raising for Effective Giving’ (REG) approach to helping others has seen Smith, along with brothers Martin and Tom Crowley (from DFS Superstars), pledge to match whatever sum is donated, up to $1milllion, with 10 separate charities benefiting from the drive - and the team’s generosity paid off quicker than expected, with German poker wunderkind Fedor Holz getting in on the goodwill action.

For a while it looked as though Smith and co would be unable to recreate the success of previous years, the New Jersey man blogging:

"Happy Holidays everyone. Up until very recently, Martin and Tom … and I were all having losing years gambling and it was not looking like we were able to put a drive together. But we caught some end of year run-good, and here we are! We will be matching up to $1,000,000 to the following 10 charities".

The list includes the likes of the Against Malaria Foundation, The Good Food Institute, and several Bail Funds aimed at saving people from criminal records and jail time for the sake of a few bucks.

Cryptocurrency, much in the news recently, played a big part in Dan Smith’s thinking this year, the pro writing:

"I know a lot of people with incredibly large percentages of their networth in various cryptocurrencies. The logic is generally 'Well even if this were to go to zero, I still have a pretty sweet life.' I think along the same lines, you can make the argument that you are a prime candidate to consider donating some money to charity."

Last year saw $1.7million being shared out among the good causes and this year’s total has exceeded even that huge sum, helped in part by Holz who stated on Medium.com his three-pronged approach to improving his own and other people’s lives:

• Happiness: I will try to create as much happiness for myself and the people surrounding me as I can.
  
• Long-Term: I will try to nurture relationships that benefit everyone involved and are long-lasting.
  
• Impact: I will try to manage my resources to have the best possible impact on my surroundings.
  

And it didn’t take long before Holz’s participation in the REG drive bore fruit, the young man who was brought up with his two sisters in a single-parent, financially-struggling family, tweeting happily …

Holz has often talked about how the money he has made in poker - $26,701,371 and counting at only 24 years old - is far from the be-all and end-all of his life, stating:

"To me money has strongly diminishing value the more of it you own", adding that instead: "I love to see and learn new things about something I didn’t even know that existed before. But the most giving to me is the interaction with other human beings."